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Committee presents candidates for Secretary General Elect and Chair of the Guidelines Office

16 December 2013

Following an open application process in the summer of 2013, the EAU Search and Nomination Committee has put forth two candidates for approval at the next EAU General Assembly. Prof. Christopher Chapple (Sheffield, GB) has been selected as the candidate for the position of Secretary General Elect, and Prof. James N’Dow (Aberdeen, GB) was nominated for the position of EAU Guidelines Chair.

Prof. Chapple’s proposed position will exist concurrently with Prof. Abrahamsson’s final year as Secretary General. Prof. N’Dow is set to replace Prof. Keith Parsons in 2014. Both candidates are to be approved by EAU members at the next General Assembly, to be held in Stockholm on the occasion of the 29th Annual EAU Congress.

According to the Bylaws of the EAU, the Secretary General Elect, after serving one year in this office, shall be elevated to the office of the Secretary General for the term as stipulated in Article 9, Section 3.1 without again standing election. Prof. Chapple would then be set to become the EAU’s next Secretary General in 2015.

The EAU Search and Nomination Committee is headed by the EAU Secretary General, and consists of two further members of the EAU Executive Committee, two members of the board and one member of the EAU Academy.

Secretary General Elect

Prof. Chris Chapple has worked in senior positions within the EAU for a number of years, serving both as Adjunct Secretary General responsible for Education for 8 years, and as the Chairman of the European School of Urology before that. He currently holds the position of Chairman of the International Relations Office.

Chapple is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Visiting Professor at Sheffield Hallam University. He has a particular interest in functional reconstruction of the lower urinary tract and the underlying pharmacological control mechanisms, and provides a tertiary service in lower urinary tract reconstructive surgery. He trained at the Middlesex Hospital where he subsequently completed his doctorate thesis, and continued there and at the Institute of Urology in London for his sub-specialist training.

In addition to his work at the EAU, Chapple is the editor-in-chief of the journal Neurourology and Urodynamics and is on the editorial board of several international journals. He is also an active member of many urological associations and societies; he has chaired a number of guidelines initiatives; and he has co-authored over 350 articles in peer-reviewed Journals and has written several books and a number of book chapters.

Prof. Chapple was awarded the St Peter’s medal by the British Association of Urological Surgeons in 2011.

Prof. Abrahamsson, in his capacity as head of the Search and Nomination Committee said Prof. Chapple’s track record was undeniable: “I have worked with Chris since 2004, and we are all familiar with his qualities, particularly in terms of Education. His application showed that he has what it takes to pave the way for the future of the EAU.”

Chair of the EAU Guidelines Office

Prof. James N’Dow has been involved with the EAU Guidelines Office since 2008, at first in an advisory capacity on evidence synthesis methodology for guideline producers. Since 2010, N’Dow has served on the Guidelines Office Board.

N’Dow is currently Professor of Urological Surgery and Director of the Academic Urology Unit at the University of Aberdeen & NHS Grampian. He studied and trained at Aberdeen University of Medicine from 1985, receiving his MD in 1999 and specialising in Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

N’Dow has co-authored over 80 refereed papers, and has presented lectures around the world on topics like guideline methodology, trial results and bladder replacement surgery. He is an active member of various professional bodies, national and international from the British Association of Urological Surgeons to the Association of Academic European Urologists.

Prof. N’Dow was editor of Cochrane Collaboration’s Incontinence Cochrane Review Group since 2005, acting as Coordinating Editor from 2008 to 2012. He has been a trustee and a vocal supporter of various medical charities, including Horizons Trust UK, which operates on the principle of entrepreneurial philanthropy to provide high-quality medical care to the poorest.

Prof. Abrahamsson on the Committee’s choice for Prof. N’Dow: “Prof. N’Dow’s work with the EAU Guidelines, as well as Cochrane, shows his experience. In addition to this, his application and his interview really showed his vision for the Guidelines Office.”